I play a lot of visual novels for better or worse. Visual novels can be a great way to explore difficult topics, situations, or just to unwind and have fun. But yet, I hadn’t quite had the time to get into the minds of those creating the visual novels until recently. After playing and reviewing Lover’s Enigma, I had to know more.

I was very curious into some of the decisions made and how they arrived at them. A game that is dark in tone, dark in aesthetics, and has a rhythm game? It felt like such an interesting mix for a game. So when I was able to ask a few questions, I didn’t pass up the chance. Had I understood some of the intentions of the developers? Would I agree with the favorite love interest of the team? Read our interview to find out.

Can you tell us about the inspiration for Lover’s Enigma? How did the story for this one begin to form? For example, was it always something that was going to be so dark with mature themes or did it evolve into that over time?

We definitely wanted something dark/psychological right from the start! But I think, if anything it had to be toned down rather then up, due to the fact that we still wanted a bit of light-hearted jokes to be in the game.

Some of the themes can definitely be difficult for people, how did you make sure to review these topics with care? Was there speaking with mental health professionals or did people bring their own real life experiences to the creation of the game?

Frankly, it was just our own experiences, and influences from various media that we picked from. We made sure to discuss these topics carefully with each other; “Is it too far?”, “Would the audience be ok with it?”, “Would I be ok with it if I read this?”

The use of color, when used, is really interesting. To me, it felt like this was when the world came alive again for our main character. How did you choose when and where to use color?

We only decide to add colors only when the scenes have a huge impact on the MC. Black and white for when the MC goes through conversations or discussions while scenes with color, in MC’s POV is something that she may just very well remember for life.

This is something I’m very curious about. Can you explain the decision to add a rhythm game as the way to calm anxiety?

This is also from personal experience. As introverts, It’s like if a bunch of your relatives come over to your house and you kinda just want to hole up. Playing games, especially rhythm games for us, sort of just removes whatever notion of time or reality you need to face at that moment.

The game opens up with a disclaimer about bugs, but I didn’t run into many during my playing. Has the process of removing these bugs been overwhelming and how has it been receiving that feedback from players? It feels you all must have been quite responsive for it to feel much smoother at this point.

It’s been quite tough on our developers! We believe most of the bugs is from players having the Demo/Beta saves before. We’re glad you didn’t run into any major bugs though!

If you had to pick a favorite love interest, who and why?

(Speaking for the whole dev team) We love Haruki! He’s just fun to write, and our developers sometimes like to give him jokes to make mid-adding the dialogue.

Upon my first playthrough I rolled credits and thought I was done. Yet when I went back to load the autosave, I was suddenly met with additional options. This feels very clever but almost like it can be missed. Are there other hidden bits that players might miss that you can provide some insight on?

That’s for you guys to find out! But our discord channel has a very attentive community…If you’d like, join it and find out more from other players too!

The game has both good and bad endings and obviously multiple with each character. Is there one you feel is the true ending?

We do have a true ending that you can unlock, and it’s something we hope players find interesting.

What is something you really want players to take away from the game after they’ve played it?

We just hope players enjoy the work we’ve put in to developing the game, and to hope that we’ll have a community that will talk about our game for years to come.

If you can share, what’s next for the team or are you all just enjoying the reactions from players?

Currently, we’ll be taking a break from development while enjoying the reactions and chatting with our players. We hope that no matter what project we do next, you’ll be along the ride with us! Thanks for having us!

Has our interview made you want to explore more? Perhaps you’ll find yourself falling for Haruki like the developers have. Lover’s Enigma is now available on PC when you’re ready to explore and collect all the endings. If you do play, let us know your thoughts and your favorites in the comments down below!